Porcelain insulator body



Patented Sept. 13, 1949 PORCELAIN 'msULa'ron BODY.

, Benjamin F. Dewey, Le Ito)", N- Y., assignor to Lapp Insulator Company Inc, Le Roy, N. Y.',

*a corporation of New York statements. 5, 1945, Serial No. 626,892

2 Claims. (Gi es-46y 1 No Drawing.

This invention relates to porcelain bodies for making high frequency electrical insulators and, more particularly, to the variety of such bodies using alkaline earths as fluxes, of which steatites are the commonest.

Porcelain bodies of the above type are known to be dimcult to manufacture, due to their short firing or vitrifying range-in. which the desirable electrical and physical properties can be attained,

and this range, in the case of some compositions, is limited to a matter of one or-two degrees Fahrenheit, and rarely exceeds .a range of about 20. Such limited vitrifying range is difficult to ob- .tain and control, with the result that formed parts of porcelain bodies made of such compositions tend to warp and distort during "the firing and distort in their formed parts during the firing operation.

A further object is to supply a composition having the above advantages, including higher resistance to thermal shock, as well as the additional advantage of being readily workable in the green state and adapted for making ceramic bodies in a wide range of sizes and shapes including bodies of relatively large size, by known and practical methods of manufacture.

To these and other ends the invention resides in certain improvements and combinations of parts, all as will be hereinafter more fully described, the novel features being pointed out in the claims at the end of the specification.

Porcelain bodies of the electrical insulator type have been made of a composition containing a major proportion of talcs, such as steatite, for example, and a minor proportion of a clay or a mixture of clays, together with a small amount of additional fluxes. Bodies made of such compositions have been diflicult to manufacture due to the fact that they have had a short firing or vitrifying temperature range, limited, in the case of some compositions, to only one or two degrees Fahrenheit, and rarely exceeding a range of amount of zirconium oxide (ZrOz).

about'20". Consequently, it has been dimcult to precisely obtain and control the proper vitrify- .mg,tempera'ture for a given composition, with the result that the bodies have either failed to acquire the desired electrical properties or their formed parts, due to. overheating, have tended to warp and distort during the firing operation.

I have found that such difilculty may be overfc'ome in, a simple and practical way by adding to a composition. of the above character, a small V v Such addition may be made as the oxide itself, as the sili- .cate, or as calcium, barium or magnesium zirconium silicates. I 'Of these I prefer barium zirconium silicate. 5

...'.- With the use of barium zirconium silicate, I have foundlfor a given temperature range that the composition of such bodies can vary between to 76% talc, 2% to 22% barium zirconium silicate and 10% to 26% clays. An average composition, for example, is 68% talcs, 14% barium zirconium silicate and 18% clays. These materials are blended together in the above proportions by methods familiar to the art and the pieces formed by likewise well known methods including casting, jiggering, throwing and pressing. The parts are then dried, finished, glazed if necessary and fired in a normal manner.

One or more talcs can be used and the blending of two or more tales may be employed to determine a vitrifying temperature. I have found that such talcs as have heretofore been found unsatisfactory for the manufacture of steatites, due to their lime content, can be used to supply a substantial part of the talc when employed with a zirconium compound as described above. Examples of such talcs are as follows:

Typical Typical Western Eastern Talc Talc 59. 86 58. 27 1. 91 95 l. 48 30 l0 6. 30. 55 28. 48 Loss 5. 54 5. 69

The clay content can likewise be of one or more clays, preferably the purest clays obtainable from the standpoint of alkalis and iron. It

" ttain and control and results has been found satisfactory among others, for example, to employ a clay having the following composition:

Calcium zirconium silicate or magnesium izir conium silicate or mixtures, thereof may be em ployed to replace all or a part of the barium zirconium silicate in the above described composition. Zirconium oxide or zirconium silicate; alone or in mixture with each other or with the.

improve the range of vitrifying temperatures and electrical properties, but not, however, to -the 4 v V .v V

It will thus be seen that the invention accomplishes its objects and while it has been herein described by reference to the particular details of preferred compositions, it is to be understood that such disclosures are intended in an illustrative rather than a limiting sense, as it is contemplated that various modifications may be made in such compositions within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An. electric insulator-;,porcelain consisting barium zirconium silicate andv characterized by;

" arelatively' wide vitrifying range.

same extent as barium zirconium silicate; In

substituting any one of these zirconium com pounds, for another in the same body, it .isonly necessary to alter the'body composition slightly so as to kee the equivalence of zirconium oxide substantially the same in all'cases'. v j j I V J .In the use of theinvention, a composition may bemade containing a single variety o'f talc, such as a New York State talcso as to have a vitrifying temperature of about 2200", yvhile' the same composition, but substituting a Western 'talc. may'have a vitriiying range .of over 2400 F. Without the zirconium ingredient,v such com- ,positions would have a short firing range of a few degrees. The addition'of the zirconium compound afiects somewhat the vitrifying tempera- 'ture although to a less degree; and its addition substantially widens the vitrifying rangeto an 'extent in some casesof plus andminus 20 degrees more or less. This increased range of vitriiyingtemperatures is much easier to accurately ina substantial reduction in firing" losses.

- 2, An electric insulator porcelain consisting above zirconium compounds, have been found t0, tially; of the iteaction products of a mixture of about:,-60% to about 76% talc, about 10% to about 26% clay and about 2% to about 22% of a zirconium compound selected from the group consisting of zirconium oxide, zirconium silicate,

and the barium, calcium and magnesium zirconium silicates or of a mixture of said zirconium compounds and characterized by a relatively wide vitrifyingrange, o

i 'IBENJAMINEDEWEY;

REFERENCES CITED v The following. references. are file of this patent: "s nTE's' PATEirrs f 

